Why do I use the Tickle Liposuction!

By Dr. E. Ronald Finger, MD.

Tickle Liposuction has been offered by Dr. Finger for several years and has been a great option for patients seeking liposuction.

I started doing liposuction in 1982 when I read an article about the procedure. Up until then, surgeons had to actually excise (cut out) the areas of fat including the overlying skin, leaving long scars in many cases. Liposuction was a revolutionary procedure.

Before Tickle Liposuction there was traditional liposuction

Just think of the impact of vacuuming out unwanted areas of fats through a very small incision! I had to buy my first suction cannulas from Germany as they were not available in the USA. My first case went very well, although I have to admit lots of improvements on the technique have been made since then.

Very soon thereafter liposuction became a popular procedure. Initially there was bad media because a few people had bad results. However, it seemed like anyone who could purchase suction equipment was doing liposuction with no certification for the procedure at all, and there was no surprise that there were complications. Then there was the advent of the tumescent fluid injections which greatly diminished the bleeding and discomfort and allowed the liposuction of much more fat, from a maximum of 2 liters at first to 5 liters or more presently.

What are some of the other Lipo Procedures are out there?

New energy based liposuction equipment was invented, such as ultrasonic and laser lipo. The idea is to melt the fat and then liposuction it out. These procedures do make the cannulas move through the tissues with more ease, but the procedures take longer to perform, which means the cost goes up. The idea of the energy based liposuction is to tighten the skin. The problem is that when you introduce heat, the complication rate goes up.

The photo below this paragraph is a patient who had a laser lipo, which caused permanent scars in her case. This is not the usual and can happen with any liposuction, especially when you go to a surgeon without experience or simply not qualified.

I know skin and possible issues with scars will use special caution with patients prone to scarring or keloids.

After having used and seen multiple techniques for liposuction, my preference for the “Tickle Liposuction or Tickle Lipo” (the real name is Nutational Infrasonic Liposculpture or NIL), is because it is faster than other techniques, and there are no chance of a burn to the skin. Also, the results seem to be smoother.

What exactly is the Tickle Liposuction?

It is a mechanism that vibrates the end of the cannula with a swirling movement without the introduction of heat. This allows the cannula to move though the tissues with great ease and with no struggle from the surgeon trying to pass the cannula through the tissues. Because of the swirling action at the end of the cannula, the multiple tracks of the cannula are connected, and this is what creates the smoothness on the skin surface. There is a Refining Cannula that is used at the end of the procedure, and this cannula removes the fat from the undersurface of the skin allowing the skin to tighten, providing there is adequate skin elasticity.

Because of the ease of the procedure, an added benefit is faster recovery and what appears to be less bruising.

What makes Tickle Lipo better for the surgeon?

Regarding the surgeon, I have seen several plastic surgeons who actually wear ice vests to do traditional liposuction due to the strenuousness of performing the procedure. These are definitely not needed with the Tickle Liposuction. So there is an advantage for both patient and surgeon.

I recently had three large liposuctions in one day, which meant that the second case had to be done with traditional liposuction because of the time it takes to sterilize the Tickle Liposuction. Halfway through the procedure, I decided to never use this antiquated equipment again–my opinion. So my office will never schedule two back to back liposuctions again. This experience emphasized the benefits of the Tickle Lipo even more for me.

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Dr. E. Ronald Finger is a Board Certified Plastic Surgeon, Author of "Why Grow Old" and the Inventor of New Youth Skin Care. Dr. Finger has been practicing as a Plastic Surgeon in Savannah Georgia since 1973 and currently offers two locations for Plastic Surgery consultations and procedures. His office locations are in Savannah Georgia, and Bluffton South Carolina. Dr. Finger was the first to offer NeoGraft Hair Transplantation in the Coastal Empire. New Youth Medical Spa offers Fraxel Laser Treatments and Skin Rejuvenation Treatments. Visit fingerandassociates.com to find out more. Dr. Finger has answered over 1200 Expert Plastic Surgery questions on realself.com and is considered a Top Doctor.